


Daddy's Birthday

by BlackHoleHeadingForHell



Category: Black Veil Brides
Genre: Family, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 17:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1356376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackHoleHeadingForHell/pseuds/BlackHoleHeadingForHell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashley picks his daughter up from school and takes her to suprise her daddy on his special day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daddy's Birthday

“Papa!”  
The smile that appeared on Ashley’s face would have made it impossible for any onlooker not to realise who the child belonged to, even if she hadn’t been running towards him as fast as her gangly legs would allow. Kneeling down, Ashley scooped his six year-old daughter up into his arms and gave her a tight hug.  
“Hi beautiful. Had a good day?”  
“Uh-huh!” His daughter wriggled out of his grasp and began to bounce around his feet like a small, over-excited puppy. “We got to play with the princesses at playtime! And we wrote stories! And I got ten out of ten in the spelling test, look!” She proudly held out a small piece of paper with a ‘ten’ stamped on it.  
“Wow, Zoe! That’s great!” Ashley said, pride evident in his voice.  
Zoe smiled happily before continuing with her excited rambling. As they began to walk down the grassy slope that led out of the playground, Ashley remained silent, content simply to listen to the sound of his daughter’s voice and watch the sunlight shining on her long blonde hair.  
In theory, he and Andy didn’t know which of them Zoe’s natural father was, after having asked the doctor to keep it secret. But from the moment she’d opened her big blue eyes when they’d first held her in the hospital, Ashley had know exactly who his daughter belonged to. Not that it bothered him, as Andy had feared. In fact - if it was possible - it made him love her all the more.   
After all, she was the spitting image of the most important man in his life.  
Thinking about his husband reminded Ashley what he’d been planning for the afternoon.   
“Do you remember what today is, sweetheart?” he asked, when Zoe paused for breath for a moment.  
The little girl nodded. “Daddy’s birthday!”  
“That’s right. I thought we’d pop in and see him on the way home, if you don’t mind the extra walk.”  
“Won’t he be busy working?”   
Ashley shrugged. “He might be writing songs again. But I bet he’d love a surprise visit from his little princess.”  
“Princess?” Zoe laughed. “Silly Daddy. I’m not a princess.”  
“Of course you are,” Ashley said, tousling her hair. He remembered when Zoe’s mother had first become pregnant with their daughter, how Andy had spent weeks painting castles and dragons and knights in shining armour all around the walls of her nursery. “You’re both of our princesses.”  
Zoe shook her head, then began searching through her rucksack for something. Ashley watched curiously as she pulled out a large envelope.  
“Do you think I could give him my present?” she asked, her voice edged with worry.  
“Sure, sweetheart.” He paused. “Can I see it?”  
“It’s _Daddy’s_ present,” Zoe said firmly, but after a moment she relented. “Okay. Just don’t crumple it.”  
Ashley took the envelope from her outstretched hand and slid out a piece of paper, careful to keep it flat. Turning it over, he saw a picture of a little girl sat on the shoulders of a tall man with eyes the colour of the sky, standing in front of a sea of cheering faces. Ashley could see the effort his daughter had put into the drawing – every member of the audience had been individually drawn, every piece of war-paint on her Daddy’s face was in exactly the right place.  
“It’s me and Daddy at work,” Zoe explained, biting her lip as she watched him. “I’ve got make-up on too so we can sing together, like he said we will when I’m older. Is it okay?”  
Ashley nodded, his throat tight, and quickly put the picture back into it’s envelope.  
Zoe’s face fell. “You’re crying,” she said sadly. “You don’t think he’ll like it.”  
“No, Zoe, I know he’ll like it,” Ashley said quickly, leaning down to give her a hug. “I’m crying because it’s beautiful. Did you draw that all by yourself?”  
She nodded. “When we did drawing. Do you like it?”  
“I love it.” Ashley got to his feet and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, worried that his eyeliner had smudged. Andy always laughed at him when he turned up with his make-up ruined after the amount of time it took him to put it on every morning. For a supposed outlaw, Andy said, Ashley sometimes behaved more like a damsel in distress.  
“Come on,” he said, pausing for a moment as they got to the road. “We’re nearly there.”  
Zoe closed her eyes and gripped his hand tightly as they quickly crossed, but relaxed upon reaching the other side. She rarely walked anywhere, but instead half-ran, half-skipped, and Ashley found himself constantly waiting for her to trip over. Andy had probably been the same when he was younger – Ashley could imagine his husband just the same, trying not to fall over his own gangly limbs.   
“Papa?”  
Zoe had stopped to look at something sitting in the cracks of the dry stone wall that ran along one side of the path. When he caught up to her, he saw that it was a small black spider spinning a web for itself in the shade.  
“That’s pretty,” he said.  
Zoe nodded slowly, only half paying attention as she watched, fascinated. She’d always been easily distracted.  
Perhaps that was why it had happened.  
Ashley shook his head firmly, furious that the thought had even occurred to him.  
“We’ll see if it’s finished when we come back, okay? Let’s go and see Daddy.”  
Nodding, his daughter tore her attention away from the insect and ran on ahead again, pushing open the heavy iron gates and following the path on up the hill. Ashley followed more slowly, shivering slightly as he passed through the gates. The warm summer sun had disappeared behind a cloud.  
He made his way up to the very top of the hill, where Zoe stood waiting for him again.   
“Do you have a birthday present for him too?” she asked.  
Ashley nodded, taking his own gift for his husband out of his bag. Carefully, he knelt down and laid the large bunch of flowers onto the cold marble stone.  
The gravestone under which his husband had rested for two years, ever since the day he’d been hit by the car that had been heading straight for his four year-old daughter.  
“Hey baby,” Ashley murmured, trying to keep his voice steady. “Sorry my eyeliner’s all smudged. I bet yours is just as perfect as usual.  
Zoe sat down cross-legged beside him and placed her picture on top of the flowers.  
“Sorry if… if you’re busy singing, Daddy, but I got you a present. See? I-it’s me and you singing together, like you s-said we could. Papa says we still can, when I s-see you again. Only… only I won’t get to see you again for _ages_ , so I made you this so… so you can look at it while you wait.”  
She swallowed, before getting to her feet and running off back down to the gate. Ashley watched her go, but didn’t follow.   
He knew she didn’t like her Daddy to see his brave princess cry.  
Swallowing, he turned back to the headstone, to the ornate letters carved into the rock.

HERE LIES ANDREW DENNIS BIERSACK.  
BELOVED HUSBAND AND FATHER.

_“A Saviour will be there.”_

“Happy birthday, Andy,” Ashley whispered, unable to stop the tears falling down his own face. “Thank you for saving her for me.”

**Author's Note:**

> *Spoilers (if you haven't read it yet)*
> 
> Sorry I didn't use the "major character death" tag, but I thought it'd ruin it. Plus you could kind of see it coming... I didn't do a very good job with the surprise thing. :/
> 
> Anyway, please feel free to comment, and to make suggestions if you want me to write something. :)


End file.
